God, I hope we come out and destroy Milwaukee in game one. Lots of ignorant Bucks fans on Twitter making dumb comparisons and arguments to claim that Milwaukee is going to handle Boston easily. To name a few:
"ThE bUcKs StOmPeD tHe CeLtIcS iN tHe SeAsOn SeRiEs. tHeY’rE cLeArLy BeTtEr ThIs YeAr!"
Reality - the Bucks beat the Celtics 2-1 in the season series, the last win being a one point win at home where it literally required the refs missing three foul calls on the final Kyrie shot for them to pull out the victory. Their other win was a mid-December game where our entire frontline (Al, Baynes, and Morris) was injured and we started Semi freaking Ojeleye at Center. In fact, every single game we had at least one guy in the top seven of our rotation out - Brown in the first game and both Baynes and Hayward for the final game - where Milwaukee was fully healthy for every single game. Yeah, really convincing season series win.
"ThE cElTiCs CoUlD bArElY sCoRe On InDiAnA oNlY bReAkInG 100 tWiCe! We AvErAgEd OvEr 120 AgAiNsT dEtRoIt!"
Reality - this argument is even dumber and completely ignores context. Indiana by several measures was the best defensive team in the league, and at worst was a top-3 defensive team in the league. Compare that to Detroit who was middle of the pack between 12 and 15, was much worse defensively, and was about as bad of a matchup defensively with Milwaukee as possible. That's just a LITTLE relevant to the scores in the respective series. Further, that doesn't even take into account that Indy's defense was a perfect fit against the type of offense that Boston runs, as they're excellent at creating turnovers and contesting shots out on the perimeter. Compare that to Milwaukee, on the other hand, who is actually below average defensively out on the perimeter, especially the three, but elite at protecting the paint.
Going to be a good series. I think it's about as close to a pick'em as possible. While Milwaukee has HCA and the best overall player in the series, I think the distance between Giannis and Kyrie is pretty much evaporated in this series by the fact that Giannis' game is not necessarily conducive to tight, late game situations, unlike Kyrie. When it comes to needing a bucket late in the halfcourt set, who do you trust more to get you a bucket - Giannis or Kyrie? Add on top of this the much greater playoff experience we have and the fact that we matchup with them much better than they matchup with us (specifically the Al/Lopez matchup, which is a complete gamechanger for Milwaukee, as Lopez simply can't guard Al out on the perimeter), and I think you have a pick'em if not a slight Boston advantage. (Certainly no Celtics fan bias here either!
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